An Early Look at This Year's Wrestling Powerhouses: Faith Christian, Bishop McCort Should Lead the Way

Pennsylvania rivals headline preseason with stacked rosters, while Lake Highland Prep, Blair Academy, Delbarton and California powers reload for another national title chase.

Bo Bassett (right) is part of a star-studded lineup expected to take the mat for Pennsylvania's Bishop McCort, making the Crushers one of the favorites to be the top high school wrestling team in the nation in 2025-26. / Harrison Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

What we are laying out here is an early look at some of last year’s top teams from the Final 2024-25 High School on SI Final Team Rankings and projecting what they may look like in 2025-26. Team rankings are produced for the high school season only. This is NOT yet an attempt at ranking the teams for the coming season. That will come when we have a clearer picture of what everyone’s depth looks like. This is a look at what ranked wrestlers the top teams are bringing back or brought in with transfers.

Depth vs. Star Power

Last year’s top two teams appear to be the ones to beat again as Pennsylvania’s Faith Christian Academy (No. 1 last year) returns eight ranked wrestlers and Bishop McCort (No. 2) brings back ten. Championships are typically won by depth, not stars, but last year, the Lions’ firepower was the difference in their encounters with the Crushers.

Bishop McCort’s Star-Studded Lineup

This year, it looks like McCort has the upper hand when it comes to stars as they have three number ones compared to one for Faith Christian. The Crushers top dogs are:

• Jax Forrest (132 pounds)
• Bo Bassett (150)
• Melvin Miller (165)

We currently have Bassett as No. 1 at 144 pounds as we learned about his ascent up in weight after press time for the rankings and will make that adjustment in our next update.

The weights we have wrestlers slotted at could very well change as we based our landing spots based on recent weights and trends with where wrestlers have been throughout the last calendar year. Bo’s brother Keegan is fresh off winning an U17 Freestyle World Championship and starts the year off ranked third at 106 pounds, behind another World Champ, Georgia’s Ariah Mills (Athens Christian) and Turner Ross (Edmond North, Oklahoma), who beat Bassett twice last season at Ironman and the Hall of Fame Duals.

Other Crushers making the initial rankings report are:

• Sam Herring (No. 6 at 138 pounds)
• Jayden O’Farrill (No. 7 at 175)
• Jackson Butler (No. 21 150/157 pounds)
• Caleb Rodriguez (No. 25 285)

Two McCort grapplers come in as Honorable Mention entries, Eli Herring (120 pounds) and CJ Pensiero (190).

O’Farrill won a Fargo 16U Freestyle Championship over No. 2 Salah Tsarni (Blair Academy, NJ). But their track records leading up to that match allow Tsarni to keep the higher ranking since it was a one-point win in which the winning points were gained on step outs. Both are entered at 175 pounds for Super 32, so that meeting (if it happens) or order of finish will be the deciding factor in their rankings post Super 32.

Faith Christian’s Firepower and Depth

Faith Christian’s top-rated wrestler is 190-pounder Adam Waters. Technically, the Lions do have a second number one, as one of the adjustments we will make in the next update is moving Kentucky’s Jordyn Raney (Union County) up to 144 pounds, which will leave Joe Bachmann (currently No. 2) as the top guy at 138 pounds.

Fargo Junior Freestyle Champ, Nicholas Singer comes in as the No. 3 guy at 175 pounds. Two Lions are ranked sixth in their weight classes, Freddy Bachmann (132 pounds) and Mark Effendian (285). At 165 pounds, Cael Weidemoyer will be making a return from injury ranked 13th at 165 pounds. Jason Singer is No. 14 at 215 pounds and Mason Wagner is an Honorable Mention entry at 144.

We are sure Faith Christian is probably welcoming in some new young guns in the lower weights as well as some of their unranked returnees showing improvement. We expect the unheralded guys to once again be the deciding factors when these two collide in a dual. Tournaments seem to favor McCort, though, but only time will tell how the battle for Pennsylvania shapes up this year.

Lake Highland Prep Reloads After Title Run

Florida’s Lake Highland Prep won its first National Prep Tournament Championship a year ago and finished as the nation’s third ranked squad but was hit hard with graduation. The Highlanders reloaded with grapplers from up and down the East Coast. Coach Mike Palazzo has a knack for having his wrestlers improve rapidly and outperform expectations.

It’s not as if they lost everything, so one would be foolish to bet on a tumble, and we expect them to be in the top five and probably in that top three again when it’s all said and done. Seven ranked wrestlers return for Lake Highland with five of them being top ten to begin the year.

Four National Prep Champions will pace the Highlanders, including a middleweight murder's row that most teams cannot match:

• No. 6 Liam Davis (113)
• No. 3 Charlie DeSena (150 pounds)
• No. 4 Zeno Moore (157)
• No. 6 Lucas Boe (165 pounds)

The Highlander’s fifth top ten guy is a wrestler who was at Chantilly, Virginia last year, No. 4 Tyler DeKraker (144 pounds. We currently have him ranked at 138, but he will be in the top ten at 144 as well. Another newbie from Massachusetts, Yandel Morales (Andover), is ranked 27th at 138 pounds. Miguel Rojas, honorable mention at 175 pounds, is the final ranked Highlander.

Three guys to keep an eye on that transferred into Lake Highland this year are Maryland’s Liam McGettigan (Gilman School, 113/120 pounds), who placed at Ironman and was nationally ranked as a freshman. McGettigan is a junior this year. Two Pennsylvanians who have been on the cusp of the rankings join Prep this year, Nadav Nafshi (Germantown Academy, 175/190 pounds) and Jackson Angelo (Frazier, 190).

Malvern Prep Poised for Breakthrough

Malvern Prep, who was ranked eighth a year ago, looks poised to challenge for their first National Prep crown this season with nine ranked wrestlers littering their lineup. National Prep and Fargo runner-up, Justin Farnsworth (No. 4 at 113 pounds) is Malvern’s highest rated grappler. Matt O’Neill, who we have as No. 9 at 138 pounds, will be sliding up to 144.

Two more Friars will move up one weight class from where we have them ranked. Information was provided after press time for the rankings, so like the other changes, these will be reflected in the next update. No. 12 Tyler Conroy (132 pounds) will be at 138 and No. 22 Lukas Littleton Mascaro (126) will be at 132 pounds.

Heavyweight Lukas Zalota returns from injury and slots in at No. 15 to begin the year. Declan O’Byrne is No. 28 at 150 pounds and freshman Evan Cies comes in at No. 29 at 106. Two Malvern grapplers sit in the honorable mention section, Jack Chamberlain (165 pounds) and Chase Hetrick (175).

Blair Academy and Wyoming Seminary Rebuilding

When it comes to the National Prep Championships, New Jersey’s Blair Academy and Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Seminary had a stranglehold on them for years until Lake Highland’s rise to the top last year. Blair finished the year ranked sixth with Seminary behind them as the nation’s seventh best team.

Blair lost two big guns to graduation, Leo DeLuca and William Henckel, but replaced Henckel with the country’s No. 2 175-pounder, Salah Tasrni, who transferred in from Maryland’s Bullis School. Tsarni was a National Prep silver medalist last year. As Blair received one from Maryland, they lost another, as No. 19 Peter Snyder (190 pounds) has gone back to Maryland and will compete for Stephen Decatur.

The Buccaneers have five other ranked wrestlers and like Lake Highland added a slew of promising mid-level guys from across the country to fill out their lineup, so it would be no surprise to see them surge into the top five this season.

Michael Batista is No, 19 at 113 pounds. Anthony Curlo is an honorable mention guy at 106 pounds, but Blair is welcoming Jack Anello into the fold, so between he and Curlo, one will be at 106 pounds, and the other may be in purgatory depending on whether Batista stays at 113.

Michael Batista of Blair Academy (left) slams Marius Garcia of Bexley down onto the mat during their 113 pound match in the quarterfinal round of the 2024 Ironman Wrestling Tournament at Walsh Jesuit High School on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. / Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Three wrestlers are bunched into two weight classes in our rankings with No. 11 Vincent Anello likely to stay at 132 pounds, which will push newly acquired New Yorker, Honorable Mention Finnegan O’Brien (132), a 16U Fargo Freestyle runner-up, up to 138 where we have Weston Borgers ranked 28th. Borgers has spent some time at 144 pounds in the past, so perhaps he ends up there, giving 138 to O’Brien.

There is a Blair wrestler we overlooked when we compiled our initial draft as Joseph Schinder missed a lot of time due to injury and slipped through the cracks. Schinder will be added to the rankings in the next update as he has history with four guys ranked at 165 pounds.

Schinder owns a win over No. 2 Kross Cassidy (Fairfax, Virginia) from the Beast of the East in 2024, where he lost to Boe and Nafshi. At last year’s National Prep Tournament, Schinder placed fifth at 157, beating No. 8 Arment Waltenbaugh (Hill School, Pennsylvania) with losses to Boe and Honorable Mention Noah Tucker (Bullis School).

We tried to get a Blue Knight lineup ahead of press time but were not successful. New coach Will Weber has surely brought in some new talent to a team that lost a lot to graduation over the last two years. As of now, we only have four Seminary wrestlers in the rankings, and we certainly expect that to change.

The highest rated of them being No. 7 Dale Corbin at 132 pounds. We also have Shamus Regan ranked 27th at 132, so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. Corbin wrestled most of last season at 138 pounds only coming down to 132 a few times and the during the spring and summer. Brian Chamberlain is No. 21 at 157 pounds and New Jersey transfer, Will Webb (Don Bosco Prep), is honorable mention at 106 pounds.

Delbarton vs. St. Joseph’s: New Jersey Powers Collide

New Jersey’s Delbarton played second fiddle to St. Joseph’s Regional in 2024/2025 with both finishing as top five teams in the country, as St. Joe was No. 4 to Delbarton’s five.

When it comes to star power, Delbarton appears to have a leg up this year with seven nationally ranked grapplers to St. Joseph’s three. Leading the way for the Green Wave is U17 Freestyle World Champion, No. 1 Jayden James (157 pounds). Two-time state champ and Fargo runner-up, Cam Sontz, is No. 5 at 120 pounds.

Delbarton’s Jayden James’s hand is raised after defeating Delsea’s Jamar Dixon Jr. in the championship 150-pound match during finals of the 2025 NJSIAA individual wrestling state championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. / Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

We assume Gabriel Logan will return from injury this year and slot in at 165 pounds where we have him ranked seventh. The other ranked Delbarton guys are No. 13 Carl “CJ” Betz (190 pounds), No. 14 Tommy Marchetti (126 pounds), and No. 15 PJ Terranova (113). Ryan DeGeorge earned a honorable mention nod at 144 pounds.

We have two St. Joe wrestlers ranked at 113 pounds, which will sort itself out when lineups are set. Out of the high school season, we allow more than one rep from a team in the weight classes. Once the season gets underway, it’s one, per team, per weight. JoJo Burke comes in at number three at 113, while Charles Esposito sits at No. 25. St. Joe’s final ranked guy is Cristian Alvarez, who starts off as the number seven heavyweight.

California Depth: Buchanan, St. John Bosco, Clovis, Poway

The California Kids look poised to make noise as two programs, Buchanan and St. John Bosco, place eight each in the rankings and Clovis and Poway have five each.

Buchanan finished the year ranked 11th in the country with Poway right behind them at number twelve. St. John Bosco was 15th and Covis 18th. Gilroy was 14th nationally a year ago and placed three in the rankings.

Buchanan has three in the top five, and five in the top ten. Leading the way is No. 3 Rocklin Zinkin (120 pounds), U17 World Team member, No. 5 Ashton Besmer (132), and No. 5 Thiago Silva (106 pounds). Apparently, Thiago’s brother Thales, who is also ranking worthy will be joining the fray. We are not sure how that will play out as Buchanan has honorable mention Jax Vang at 113 pounds right now.

Rocklin Zinkin is one of the reasons Buchanan will remain one of California's top high school wrestling programs in 2025-26. / Buchanan Wrestling Instagram

Joseph Toscano (No. 8 at 144 pounds) and Ivan Arias (No. 10 at 150) are Buchanan’s other top ten grapplers. Rounding out their ranked contingency is No. 17 Chris “CJ” Huerta (132 pounds), who missed last year but surfaced during the offseason, and No. 18 Paul Ruiz (126).

St. John Bosco’s highest ranked rep is No. 5 Isai Fernandez at 175 pounds. A year ago, No. 6 Jesse Grajeda (144 pounds) and No. 10 Michael Romero (144) jostled for the 138-pound weight class. We assume that battle will now be for the 144-pound slot, with the loser going up to 150. Another lineup battle is on the slate at 132 pounds with No. 7 Nathan Carillo and No. 11 Sean Willcox.  

The other three nationally ranked Braves are No. 16 Luke Loren (106 pounds), No. 28 Jorge Rios (113), and honorable mention Aaron Meza (120 pounds).

Poway’s ranked five are in the middle to upper weights with No. 7 Daneil Moylan (215 pounds) being the highest rated. Two come in at No. 14, Arseni Kikiniou (144 pounds) and Mario Carini (175). Kikiniou doubled up on hardware at the U17 World Championships, capturing a silver in Freestyle and bronze in Greco Roman. Two from Poway are in the honorable mention part of the report, Matthew Orbeta (138 pounds) and Carlos Valdiviezo (150).

Clovis has two at 165 pounds creating a situation to be settled, No. 21 Wyatt Lewis and No. 26 James Curoso. Other ranked Clovis wrestlers are No. 11 Ray Rivera (138 pounds), No. 21 Thunder Lewis (132), and honorable mention Anthony Garza (113). Gilroy has Fargo Freestyle Champ, No. 3 Moses Mendoza at 132 pounds and two at 175 that will be sorted out eventually, No. 13 Kaleo Garcia and No. 16 Travis Grace.

Midwest Contenders: Massillon Perry and Brownsburg

The next two teams with the highest number of wrestlers in the national rankings are Ohio’s Massillon Perry and Indiana’s Brownsburg. Massillon Perry was number thirteen in last year’s final rankings and Brownsburg was 20th.

Lincoln Rohr, along with his brother Mason, lead a strong lineup at Ohio's Perry High School. / Julie Vennitti Botos / Canton Repository / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Perry is led by the Rohrs, Lincoln (No. 29 at 113 pounds) and Mason (No. 25 at 138), and the Horaks, No. 26 Xander at 215 and honorable mention Caige at 190 pounds. No. 15 Liston Seibert is ranked at 132 pounds and Brennan Warwick is 17th at 175.

Brownsburg’s strength lies in the lower weights with four ranked nationally, No. 5 Revin Dickman (126 pounds), No. 11 Traevon Ducking (106), No. 12 Case Bell (120 pounds), and No. 19 Braylon Reynolds (138). Two Brownsburg guys are ranked at 150 pounds, No. 11 Tommy Gibbs and No. 15 Parker Reynolds.